James

Last night in the Royal Oak I realised how much I will miss James. He left today, heading off around Britain before taking the ferry to France to begin his over land trip to Iran and Tibet. He is taking on such a big adventure I can’t help but be impressed, I would be so very apprehensive, but he seemed confident.

James is slight, bearded and keen. His laugh booms across any room he is in, upon first meeting him he seemed false, too friendly, too nice. As I got to know him I realised that there is nothing false about him, he genuinely is just nice to everyone.

Working with him in Metropole was always tremendous fun, over the course of an evening we would talk about music, travel, academia and people. He would flirt ridiculously with just about every girl who ever came in there, and he would always enjoy it. It wasn’t so much the goal but the chat that he liked, his confidence encouraged me to talk to the customers more and I enjoy it more as a result.

Last night in the Oak as he sat surrounded by his friends a guy played a song for him. He was a great bear of a man holding a full sized guitar that looked like a toy in his hands, his fleshy face carried a small beard and bold strong eyes. He strummed his guitar and belted out the songs at a noise loud enough to be heard over the fifty people chatting the pub. As he said goodbye to James in his own way I felt so happy for my friend. James smiled and laughed and chatted and sang along. I couldn’t imagine a better last night, and I wish him so much happiness.